Saturday, January 5, 2019

Give us a king to judge us. or Why Trump Reigns as King Cyrus

One of the great puzzles of the last few years is why Trump (and his Canadian counterparts) have the support of the Evangelical Christians. I call them Republican Jesus Christians as they are the antitheses of everything Jesus of the Gospels stood for, as is Trump.

It is more than the easy explanation that they are holding their noses so they get the supreme court stacked, or get abortion declared illegal, or get tax laws favouring the rich. They actually love the guy.

Part of it is their expectation that the greater mess the world is in, the sooner Jesus will come again and rapture them out of it. It is why the Christian Right does everything in its power to prevent peace in the Middle East. For this reason, they support Israel, not because they have any use for the Jews.

Trump has been called the next thing to the Messiah and practically worshipped by the Religious Right. Now he is the new Cyrus the Great, according to their interpretation of Isaiah 45.

Cyrus, in case you’ve forgotten, was born in the sixth century B.C.E. and became the first emperor of Persia. Isaiah 45 celebrates Cyrus for freeing a population of Jews who were held captive in Babylon. Cyrus is the model for a nonbeliever appointed by God as a vessel for the purposes of the faithful.

Today’s Christian nationalists talk a good game about respecting the Constitution and America’s founders, but at bottom they sound as if they prefer autocrats to democrats. In fact, what they really want is a king. “It is God that raises up a king,” according to Paula White, a prosperity gospel preacher who has advised Mr. Trump.

The great thing about kings like Cyrus, as far as today’s Christian nationalists are concerned, is that they don’t have to follow rules. They are the law. This makes them ideal leaders in paranoid times.

This isn’t the religious right we thought we knew. The Christian nationalist movement today is authoritarian, paranoid and patriarchal at its core. They aren’t fighting a culture war. They’re making a direct attack on democracy itself.

They want it all.And in Mr. Trump, they have found a man who does not merely serve their cause, but also satisfies their craving for a certain kind of political leadership.

Of course, there is precedent. Read 1 Samuel Ch 8. We know how that turned out.

This is exactly right. Evangelical Christians see Trump as one who will hasten Armageddon, the Rapture and the Second Coming. There's some other Biblical verse or precedent about God using an imperfect sinner to achieve God's purpose and that's how Evangelicals are able to turn a blind eye to Trump's many personal sins which they should otherwise condemn. It makes no sense whatsoever unless it's understood that they are a cult acting out their insane beliefs. Insane beliefs that have very negative "real world" consequences.

We have met the Enemy

Proud to be Ukrainian

About Me

Father, husband, agricultural consultant, beef cattle specialist, dog owner, reluctant gardener, amateur photographer, history buff and wandering soul who has at last found home and happiness in Ukraine. Fully registered as a permanent resident, who unfortunately looks like his passport picture, I am here for the foreseeable future, having married the “only woman in Ukraine who does not want to move to Canada”. I do miss my kids terribly, though Tanya’s family including two granddaughters make up for it somewhat.